The long-running fork of KDE 3 has dropped its latest update: Trinity Desktop Environment R14.1.4, now with better distro support and a fresh coat of code. Not bad for a project still chugging along 15 years after KDE itself moved on.

[1]This new release adds support for the recently released Ubuntu 25.04 and the forthcoming Fedora 43, along with a handful of both functional and cosmetic upgrades. There's tab support in the PDF viewer; an applet to choose between alternate versions of programs and libraries, which works on both RPM and DEB/APT-based distros; better Unicode character support in its font handling – for instance, it can now handle emoji.

[2]

TDE R14.1.4 in English, and looking pretty smart - Click to enlarge

On the eye-candy front, TDE 14.1.4 delivers 22 new vector wallpapers, 15 color schemes, and fresh tweaks to window decorations and transparency via the Dekorator theme engine. The tderandrtray applet also picks up an improved context menu and better gamma control.

The [3]detailed release notes have screenshots showing what's new, and there's also a [4]full changelog . The environment maintains classic versions of some beloved KDE applications, such as the [5]Amarok media player .

This all just goes to show that the project is still very much alive and moving forward. Over the last few years, we've covered [6]Trinity 14.0.11 and [7]Trinity 14.0.12 , as well as the lightweight [8]Q4OS distribution version 5.3 , which is based around the Trinity desktop.

[9]

For us, 3.5 wasn't a classic version of KDE – we preferred the simpler, cleaner KDE 1, and could put up with KDE 2 in the domesticated form [10]found in Xandros OS 20 years ago. However, we're always happy to see one of the less well known minority desktops getting freshened up and given a lick of paint.

[11]Watch out for any Linux malware sneakily evading syscall-watching antivirus

[12]MX Linux 23.6 brings Debian freshness, without the systemd funk

[13]Trinity desktop's latest release snaps into action on Q4OS 5.3

[14]XandrosOS: User-friendly to a fault

That said, it's worth remembering just how deep Trinity's roots go. Work on KDE 3 continued for a little while after KDE 4.0 was released in January 2008. (Or, as The Register described the change in 2010, [15]"then they went mad .") There were two more releases of the older codebase, [16]KDE 3.5.9 in February and [17]KDE 3.5.10 in August, and then that was it. At that point, TDE took over, forking the last version, and then from 2010 to 2013, releasing its own version 3.5.11, 3.5.12, and 3.5.13, with a couple of bug fixes.

[18]

TDE R14.1.4 with Greek title bar text, demonstrating its Unicode abilities. - Click to enlarge

After that, in 2014 the project switched to its own versioning system, with [19]TDE 14.0.0 . After 13 point releases, this was followed by [20]TDE 14.1.0 in 2023. So, in a very loose manner of speaking, TDE 14.1.4 could be considered analogous to the "KDE version 3.7.4," which never happened. Long may it continue.

We feel that there are several lessons for this in other desktop environments. Another long-running and successful fork of a discontinued version is the [21]MATE Desktop , now up to [22]version 1.28 . It, like [23]Xfce , is based on the GIMP toolkit version 3, or Gtk 3 for short. That is now abandoned by its developers, who have moved on to [24]Gtk 4 , which is now up to [25]Gtk 4.19 . Gtk 4 doesn't do quite a few things that MATE and Xfce need, so it could be that those teams will need to keep maintaining Gtk 3, which is now up to [26]Gtk 3.24.43 . It's a big job, but they can take reassurance from the fact that the TDE team is still developing its own fork of Qt 3, [27]Tqt 3 , after a decade and a half. ®

Get our [28]Tech Resources



[1] https://trinitydesktop.org/newsentry.php?entry=2025.04.27

[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/30/r14-1-4-screenshot-michele.jpg

[3] https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Release_Notes_For_R14.1.4

[4] https://wiki.trinitydesktop.org/Changelog_For_R14.1.4

[5] https://amarok.kde.org/

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/09/new_qt_linux_desktops/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/04/unity_trinity_desktops/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/02/trinity_desktop_q4os/

[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aBNGPAjfcFWOMGyVxsll2QAAAIE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2004/02/16/xandrosos_userfriendly_to_a_fault/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/29/linux_io_uring_security_flaw/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/17/mx_linux_236/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/02/trinity_desktop_q4os/

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2004/02/16/xandrosos_userfriendly_to_a_fault/

[15] https://www.theregister.com/Print/2010/06/30/linux_chronicles_part_one/

[16] https://kde.org/info/1-2-3/3.5.9/

[17] https://kde.org/info/1-2-3/3.5.10/

[18] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/30/r14-1-4-screenshot-philippe.jpg

[19] https://trinitydesktop.org/newsentry.php?entry=2014.12.16

[20] https://trinitydesktop.org/newsentry.php?entry=2023.04.30

[21] https://mate-desktop.org/

[22] https://mate-desktop.org/blog/2024-02-27-mate-1-28-released/

[23] https://www.xfce.org/

[24] https://docs.gtk.org/gtk4/

[25] https://download.gnome.org/sources/gtk/4.19/gtk-4.19.0.news

[26] https://download.gnome.org/sources/gtk+/3.24/

[27] https://scm.trinitydesktop.org/gitea/TDE/tqt3

[28] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/